Alabama upsets No. 23 Mississippi State 62-57

The Crimson Tide held the Bulldogs to their worst shooting
performance of the season and put the clamps on the perimeter
shooters. Then Anthony Brock and JaMychal Green each made two
free throws in the final 16 seconds to finish off a 62-57 upset
on Saturday.

"The emphasis was really to try to take away the 3-point line,"
Tide coach Anthony Grant said.

Alabama (12-7, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) certainly did that.
The Bulldogs (15-4, 3-1) came in ranked third in the nation in
3s made, but missed their first 11 and hit a season-low two in
18 attempts.

The cold-shooting Bulldogs were aiming for two followed by a
quick foul down three late.

Dee Bost drove to the basket to attempt a layup but couldn't get
it off and tried to pass outside to Barry Stewart on the left
wing.

"He just tried to make a play that wasn't there," Tide guard
Mikhail Torrance said.

Plan B didn't work, either. Instead of a potential tying 3, the
play resulted in a turnover when Stewart couldn't handle the
pass.

"I was trying to get to my spot and I slipped and the ball went
out of bounds," he said.

Green grabbed the inbound pass and hit two free throws with 6.6
seconds left to preserve the win for the Tide, which had dropped
three straight games. Mississippi State had cut it to 58-57 on
Phil Turner's layup with 17 seconds left.

Alabama is now 2-3 against Top 25 teams.

The Bulldogs were the last remaining SEC West team without a
league loss. Their previous low in 3s was four against Western
Kentucky before Mississippi State started the three-game streak.

The Bulldogs had been living on the edge during that stretch
when the victory margin totaled 10 points. This time they shot a
season-low 32 percent.

Stewart chose to look at the basket as half-full instead of
mostly empty.

"We had poor shooting but we were still in the game," he said.
"You've got to give us credit for that."

Torrance led Alabama with 20 points and five assists to rebound
from a season-low three points against Tennessee. He made 4 of 8
3-pointers and scored eight points in the first two minutes.

Green had 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots for
Alabama.

Alabama didn't shoot much better than the Bulldogs, hitting a
season-low 35 percent from the field. But the Tide seemed to
grab most of the loose balls and long rebounds, and Tony
Mitchell and Senario Hillman combined for 21 boards while both
posting career highs. The result was a 49-45 edge over the SEC's
top rebounding team.

"This is the way I think our team has to play to have a chance
to win," Grant said. "From a style standpoint, this is how we
want the game played."

Stewart led Mississippi State with 13 points. Bost had 10 points
and eight boards while Ravern Johnson also scored 10. Jarvis
Varnado moved past Colgate's Adonyal Foyle into second place on
the NCAA's career blocked shots list, and is 41 shy of the
record of 535 held by Louisiana-Monroe's Wojciech Mydra.

Varnado had nine points, eight rebounds and four blocks before
fouling out.

Mississippi State wiped out a 12-point deficit midway through
the second half, scoring 14 straight to take a 48-46 lead on
Stewart's 3-pointer. He and Turner both made 3s during that
stretch, but a team that came in making nearly 10 a game was
otherwise cold.

"They played very well defensively," Bulldogs coach Rick
Stansbury said, "and we didn't play well offensively."

Alabama pushed its advantage back to seven on Torrance's
3-pointer to cap a 10-1 surge. The Bulldogs came back one more
time and Turner followed a missed 3 to give them one more
chance.

Brock and Green put it away at the line, though.

Both teams endured dismal shooting stretches, especially in the
first half.

The Bulldogs opened the game 2-of-16 shooting, helping Alabama
build an 11-point lead. Then the Tide scored just three points
and made just one of their last 13 shots over the final 7:40.
Bost scored on a pullup jumper with 2 seconds left to cut
Alabama's halftime lead to 27-26.

The Tide had jumped ahead 12-2.

"From an energy and intensity standpoint, we were outstanding,"
Grant said. "From the very start of the game we were able to
dictate the way the game was played. We were able to sustain
that throughout the second half."